Leverage Points

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Time For A Constitutional Amendment: All People Are Created Equal

To all the people not living in the United States who think our society has lost its mind: welcome to transformation and reformation in the digital age. While many feel America is on the brink, as a system dynamics expert, I see the pushing and shoving happening as the next step on America’s path to enlightenment. Sure, it is ugly. Sure, people are polarized. Underneath that is the beauty of transformation.

America was founded on a set of ideals about freedom – mostly freedom from religious persecution. Our Constitution starts out with “We The People of the United States.” Along the path to religious freedom someone wrote in that important document that “All men are created equal.” We have created an imbalance in our governing system that is now coming to fruition in our society. We invited all the people in and then we carved out a special place for men.

Inherent in that imbalanced statement is that all white men are created equal. Everyone else? Meh. They can be here too. Under our thumbs. Americans happily lived that repeating pattern for almost 200 years. But cracks surfaced in that belief. What about the Japanese we incarcerated? What about the blacks who weren’t allowed to drink from “white” water fountains or attend “white” schools. Women? Well, I am still waiting for the Equal Rights Amendment introduced in 1972 to be ratified by states number 36, 37 and 38. Then there is the LGBT community…

What was written and memorialized in the greatest political document to date no longer serves the country it governs. We are watching that fight play out each day in American society. Until we change our governing document to say “All people are created equal” (and this can be a figurative shift and not a literal one), we will be stuck on this merry go round of men dominating women; of white men making choices about women’s reproductive rights (there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to complain about this one); and on and on.

Don’t get me wrong. I love white men. I am married to one and I adore him. If you are thinking this blog is about bashing white men, it’s not. It is, however, about balancing a government process that has long been out of balance. Systems demand balance. Balance is not about equal. It is not about fair. It is about a comparable exchange of energy. White males are 31% of the American population. When you deny 69% of your population by dismissing people of color, dismissing the opposite sex, or dismissing people for their sexual orientation, there is not balance. There is not a comparable exchange of energy.

How do we remedy this inconsistency in our Constitution? The first step is acknowledge that all people are created equal. The second step is act and speak consistent with that belief. Join me as we turn toward the future where we are consistent in word, thought, and deed that all people are created equal.